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TV Review: Unforgettable

CBS's new crime drama fails to distinguish itself from the others out there.

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Based on J. Robert Lennon's short story, "The Remember," Unforgettable attempts to use a rare condition called hyperthymesia to put a new spin on the very stale crime procedural genre. Unfortunately, it takes a little more than that to make a memorable television program.

Former detective Carrie Wells (Poppy Montgomery) has a unique ability to never forget things that happen to or around her. Because of this, she made an excellent cop, always being able to recall small details that could prove vital in case. However, this also means that she's frequently haunted by the images of corpses and the other nasty sights that cross the path of a homicide detective. For this reason and others, Carrie left her job as a cop. But when a murder takes place in her building, she finds herself working with the police again, including her ex-lover Al Burns (Dylan Walsh). Carrie is concerned that rejoining the force will bring up ghosts lingering around in her head since the murder of her sister—the only case she can't apply her unique skills to—but Burns tries to convince her that the risk may lead her to memories that will help her find her sister's killer.

Despite Carrie's unique brain, Unforgettable fails to do anything but deliver a run-of-the-mill cop show with a slight gimmick. Even USA's comedic crime procedural Psych, builds off of its lead character's photographic memory to create an interesting premise. Unforgettable, however, just clings to Carrie's hyperthymesia, hoping that will it be different enough to hold your attention but other than some clever staging of her "remembering" scenes, there's nothing here that hasn't been superior elsewhere.

Unforgettable premieres Tuesday 9pm on CBS.

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